Help!!!!Desparately Seeking Preschool Entertainment!!!!!!!

I have a couple of book recommendations that I think will help- they both have great practical ideas that utilize things you already have around the house. Some of the ideas are so simple, you think, "Why didn't I think of that?!" Cute crafts, quiet activities, car/errand activities, etc... One is The Preschooler's Busy Book (they also have a Toddler's Busy Book, but a lot of the ideas overlap) by Kuffner. Another title is Fuss Busters at Home by Baicker-McKee. I think the idea behind the book is for rough times in a preschooler's day, but it had lots of good ideas I've used. I found it at Half-Priced Books. Hope this helps!

I agree that a preschool or mom's day out may be good for your son. If that is not an option, there are so many craft ideas right now for this time of year.

I would suggest...
* http://familyfun.go.com/
* http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
or books on tape, a fun way to get them to use their imagination while listening to a story. You can even do this together, while you are caring for your newborn, you can be listening to a story together.

Things like stringing pasta, cheerios, playdough, etc. are so priceless and so fun and so very important to fine motor development...keep it up!

Sorry to ramble, but another idea comes to mind...I used to have what I called a "rainy day" box. It was filled with age-appropriate craft ideas and my kids could go there when they were bored and choose stuff to do outside of their toys they play with all the time....stickers, lacing, glue sticks and scraps of paper, scrap paper/magazines to rip up (or cut), different shapes/sizes of rocks, etc.

Good luck, mom and you're doing great!

They have some pre-school activity books that he might be able to do. My son never was into coloring, but as soon as he figured out his abc's and numbers he started doing connect the dot's and other activities like that. Now he's drawing people and things and even COLORING! There is always blocks - lego blocks. My son has some big legos and he loves building rockets, airplanes, cars, busses.... anything that goes, and then driving/flying it around the house.

When my baby was still little, I had my son do things around the house to help like bringing me things for baby (he'd pick out her outfit a bunch and get diapers and wipes...) and gathering laundry, emptying the dryer and bringing the clean clothes in the laundry basket into the living room. We also have a front loading washer, so he could help load the washer and start it and move the laundry between (and he LOVES the buttons and getting to push them...)

THat's also when we started getting him some short educational videos from the library for him to watch when I just couldn't keep my eyes open and wanted to get a short nap (he wasn't napping at the time). It kept him from doing horrible things to the walls and carpet.... If you trust him with scissors (ie, not cutting drapes, blankets, ect... ) and can supervise him a little, get him some scissors and some old magazines and let him hack away at those. If you're really brave, you can give him a glue stick and some construction paper and let him make cards for extended family members' birthdays and/or holidays... Of course, if you aren't nursing at the time he's doing it, you can help him. Otherwise, if he's like my son, you'll want him right next to you so you can make sure he doesn't damage walls, carpet, etc.... Also, practicing drawing his letters/numbers/shapes might be fun for him.

Good luck!

Here are a few things my 2 1/2 year old twins like to do. Hopefully some new ideas for you!

- Cookie sheets with magnets. It is portable, cheap and my kids love magnets for some reason. You can even make your own mangents by cutting out pictures of people you know or pics froom the internet and just gluing the cheap magnet strips on the back.
- Sand / water table provides an hour of entertainment (at least) a day! If you don't have one you could just get a plastic tub and dump sand in it.
- Water spray bottle filled with water to help 'wash' things outside.
- Let him wash his toys in the sink.
- Aquadoodle mat
- Sort the light boxes of food on the bottom shelf of the pantry
- Make a craft box of paper scraps, junk mail, etc. that he can sort or color
- Window clings from the Dollar Tree. Put them on different windows, the fridge, etc.
- Pad of sticky notes. Sounds dumb but my kids like to slowly pull them off and stick them on things around the room.
- I agree with the mom who says a little TV isn't a bad thing. As long as it is somewhat educational, we all need a few moments of our child being totally quiet and pre-occupied! :)

My best, yet most surprising advice..have a friend over for him to play with!! I know it seems like one more would be too hard..more work, but honestly, it is great!! They go play with each other for quite a while! And, can he play on the computer?? If you have not tried that yet, now would be a great time to get started! There are websites, Nick Jr. is a favorite, or games that you can buy. That, or even a leapster type toy might help! Good luck, I know how hard that can be!! ~A.~

If you can swing it financially, I'd look into a preschool or mother's day out program. That will give you both a much needed break and you can get some rest while he's at school. Play dates with other kids like the previous poster suggested is a great idea too!

Also, I don't see TV as the evil some people do. I don't see anything wrong with cuddling up together to watch a movie. This is even something you could do while you're nursing.

I remember those days well! Now my "3 year old" is in the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD! It will go by fast, believe me!
Here are the things we did that my kids still talk about:

Take the middle leaf out of your dining room table and prop it up against your couch. Make sure he has on soft sweat pants and let him experience an indoor slide. My kids LOVED it. So simple and it really didn't tear up my couch or the table.

Take dining room chairs and take some bed sheets to drape over them. Tie the sheets in place with rubber bands so they won't slip off the chairs. Get his favorite blanket, pillow, stuffed animals and put it in this homemade indoor tent. Later put on a movie and flip the sheet up enough for him to lay down with his stuffed animals and watch his movie. Once the baby is down crawl in the tent with him and bring a snack.

I also got books with tapes from the local library. They come in bags and we would get atleast 7 bags at a time. He would get in his tent with a flash light on and I would set up the tape player/cd player and his book. I taught him how to turn the page when the tape beeped. He LOVED it and thought he was such a big boy that could read.

That's a few ideas! great times and great memories! I still remember them well and so do my kids!

Good luck!

J.

My advice may be against the flow but I figure the more choices you get the better decision you can make. My son was 2 when my daughter was born. I completely childproofed his bedroom, bought a huge set of duplo legos and a baby gate and taught him how to play alone in his room. We started with 5 minutes at a time,he cried at first but he soon became a very happy independent toddler who didn't need to have Mom to entertain him. HTH

Hi Stacey, I was just looking at an online ad from JCPenney, and thought about my new grandchild,She is to young for this,cute and learning toy ,it said age 3 and up. It was a his or her small colorful mini computer. Brightly colored toward each gender.It teaches numbers,letters,games, and I would think some motor skills with the little mouse.What I saw is onsale today for $29.00.Other stores will carry them as well, but I liked the educational, toy,idea, they can have fun and not realize they are learning. LOL You could look on line at different stores.

can you set up playdates in your home with other friends and kiddos....

Mother's Day Out programs are great. He would probably enjoy that very much.